During my internship, I had the opportunity to work as a social work intern. My main focus revolved around community and volunteer engagement, where I provided essential legal information and documents, such as asylum applications, to immigrants. I also participated in an asylum legal clinic, with the purpose of assisting immigrants with their legal immigration documents such as asylum seeker applications, working in partnership with the organization, Mixteca, in Brooklyn.

As my internship progressed, I began to take the lead on a project managing the volunteer manual handbook. As South Brooklyn Sanctuary continues to grow as a nonprofit, there is an increasing need to organize volunteers and future social work interns. This project in particular focused on creating a living document to guide the onboarding process for volunteers, and refer them to information or direction about their new team. These two projects — the asylum legal clinical and manual handbook — align with the organization’s mission to serve the immigrant community. These projects had a direct impact on their communities and helped provide an indirect impact by creating more infrastructure for those who have direct contact with community members.

This internship allowed me to apply several key skills I have developed through my social work degree. Understanding immigration law was extremely helpful and essential for managing complex cases and drafting key documents, particularly when needing to emphasize and include vital information for immigration cases. Direct client interactions have enhanced my advocacy skills, teaching me to approach diverse cultural backgrounds with empathy and sensitivity. I’ve improved my emotional intelligence by offering support and actively listening to individuals facing significant challenges. These two skills are vital for my future career in social work in any area I pursue. Collaborating with colleagues and community partners has enhanced my teamwork and conflict-resolution skills, and my involvement in advocacy efforts and policy analysis has provided me with valuable insights into systemic change. I was able to interact at a micro and mezzo level and learn about the macro level. Lastly, I strengthened the skills needed for program management, such as organizational and communication skills with team leaders, and application while I worked on the volunteer manual.

One of the main challenges I faced was managing my own interpersonal emotions as we worked. Many of the individuals we are helping are experiencing various kinds of system failure and discrimination. I also had to remind myself that, unfortunately, my work with them had some limitations. Managing expectations and emotions are important skills to have in this line of work to avoid burnout. During the clinic, I witnessed firsthand the high demand for more bilingual professionals and was grateful I was of service to help break language barriers. However, more bilinguals — not only Spanish and English — are needed to increase efficiency when lawyers and experts in certain fields are interacting with community members. Another challenge was time management when working with the manual handbook. I worked with various team leaders to coordinate time to discuss their material and make sure I was able to keep my internal deadlines. Thankfully, I had a supportive supervisor, who helped me navigate these tasks promptly and communicate with others effectively.

This internship has been a fantastic learning experience, both professionally and personally. On the technical side, I gained hands-on experience with backend development of a grassroots nonprofit. This was a great insight on how administrative agendas work and how tasks are divided, especially the importance of networking on personal, professional and organizational levels. The partnership with other community organizations like Mixteca are essential to carrying out events and executing effectively to a target community.

I leave this experience feeling confident in my ability to handle administrative and engagement projects, and I am excited to continue developing my interpersonal and networking skills. Overall, this experience has fueled my passion for working within communities that are directly impacted by the failures of the systems. I look forward to seeing how mental health, another passion of mine, can be incorporated into direct community work.